Category: game review

Stardew Valley is a game about moving to live on your grandfather’s farm, which he left to you when he passed, in a small town named Stardew Valley. Our protagonist is fed up with working for big corporation,Joja Mart, and decides it’s time to stop slaving away in a cubicle and actually breathe.

A lot of people compare this game to Harvest moon, and that makes sense; I think that was the developer, Concerned Ape’s, intent. But, I grew up playing Harvest Moon, those games are very dear to me, and I’m not afraid to say that Stardew Valley improves upon Harvest Moon in every way possible and is ultimately better. Stardew Valley taught me more about connections than any other game I’ve played thus far.

In Stardew Valley you fall into a rhythm while playing: wake up, check the weather, water your plants, pet your chickens, say hello to pierre in his store, give a gift to that pretty girl, go down a few more levels in the mine than you did yesterday, and go to bed. You do this every day, but somehow it never grows boring because you’re always progressing. Each relationship grows simply by saying hello, every time you harvest your crops you have more money to buy more seeds than you did last time, over time you’ll sell enough eggs to buy another chicken coop, or maybe a barn.

There is so much to do in this game: if you’re happy with how your farm looks (which you never are but whatever) you need to fill out the museum, if you’ve filled out the museum than maybe you want to finish every romance route (there are lots). I could speak for hours about every character in this game, but they’re so special that I just want to leave it to you to play. Basically I’ve put an embarrassing amount of time into this game.

Stardew Valley was my favorite game of 2016, by a large margin. This game is so so special to me, and I think it’s going to be a game that stays with me for a long time.